FT MEADE 
GenCol1 


TC 

173 
5 13 



| LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

IlIHK" 

>-r^) 2 sj(\_ _ 


Chap. 

Shelf 


. 


UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 













t 
























s * 
































































. 




























































































































































































































































































' 












/ 



SPECIAL COMMITTEE 


WM. LAWRENCE MERRY, Chairman 
C. J. DEM P ST KB, Secretary. 


SAN FRANCISCO: 

DEMPSTER BROS., PRINTERS, No. 9 Bond Street. 

1880. 


























THE 


BOARD OF TRADE 

/ 

OF SAN FRANCISCO, 

1880. 


J. S. TABER, President. 
James Duffy, 1st Vice-President. 



SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE 


INTER-OCEANIC CANAL. 


u (bbc |Un of tbc ^atificJ' 


Wm. Lawrence Merry, 

C. J. Dempster, 

W. W. Dodge, 

Louis Sachs, 

Leyi Strauss, 


of Merry, Faull & Co., 
Chairman, 
of Dempsler & Keys, 
Secretary, 
of W. W. Dodge & Co. 
of L. & M. Sachs & Co. 
of Levi Strauss & Co. 












































































































































































' • 








■v 







V* 

» 






















































PREFACE. 


At the Annual meeting of The Board of 
Trade of San Francisco held on the 2d of Feb¬ 
ruary 1880, President J. S. Taber made the 
following remarks: 

“This brings to mind another important question of 
transportation involved in the idea of an inter-oceanic canal, 
connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, which is now 
receiving so much attention from eminent engineers in 
various parts of the" world and from our own government, 
which has already expended a large amount of money in 
surveys. Its special interest to San Francisco, and whether 
across the Isthmus of Panama or Nicaragua, seem to be 
proper subjects for our consideration. Its importance to 
this coast will be a matter of the near future, and it might 
be studied up with much profit. A committee for this pur¬ 
pose would find much interesting data to present, and I 
trust it will receive your earnest enquiry, and a committee 
be chosen.” 

In accordance with which suggestion Captain 
W. L. Merry offered the following resolution: 


Resolved , That a committee of five members of this Board 
be appointed by the Chair to consider the question of an 
inter-oceanic canal in its bearings on the Pacific coast, and 
to investigate, from a commercial standpoint, which project¬ 
ed route should meet the approval of San Francisco mer¬ 
chants; said committee to report to the Board at a special 
meeting to be called for that purpose. 



4 


PREFACE. 


In support of his resolution, he spoke as 
follows: 

I am pleased to act on the suggestion of our President 
that the subject of an inter-oceanic canal be taken up by 
the Board as a matter of paramount interest to the pros¬ 
perity of our State and the Pacific Coast. This Board, 
representing millions paid annually for freights, and in¬ 
timately connected with the commercial prosperity of this 
Commonwealth, will do itself honor by placing itself on 
record in favor of this great work. California, more than 
any other State in our country, and San Francisco more than 
any other city in the world, should do all they can to aid in 
this great enterprise. The day on which we can land the 
varied products of our soil at European ports in thirty days, 
and on our own Eastern seaboard in eighteen days, without 
breaking bulk, and at reasonable freights, will witness an 
immense advance in the prosperity of our Pacific States. 

This association of merchants will fall short of its duty 
if it fails to assist this great work by its influence and en¬ 
couragement. True, there may be no immediate profit re¬ 
sulting to us, but in the life of a commercial community, the 
few years necessary to construct this great highway will be 
a short period. Many of the gentlemen now present will 
live to see this great work completed, and recall with pride 
their approval of its inception. Our Government has already 
expended a large amount on surveys for this purpose, and 
at the proper time, I shall appreciate the privilege of calling 
the attention of the Committee to the results of the prelim¬ 
inary work already accomplished. 


The resolution was carried, and Captain W. 
L. Merry, W. W. Dodge, C. J. Dempster, Leyi 
Strauss and Louis Sachs appointed as the Com¬ 
mittee ordered. 


COMMITTEE REPORT 


San Francisco, April 7th, 1880. 

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Board of 
Trade of San Francisco : 

Your Special Committee on the Inter-Oceanic 
Canal, appointed at your Annual meeting on 
February 2nd, 1880, have, since that date, heard 
all the oral testimony obtainable on this Coast, 
and examined all the official surveys of our Gov¬ 
ernment appertaining to the subject, as well as the 
journals of the Inter-oceanic Canal Convention 
held at Paris in 1879. We have considered the 
matter from an impartial standpoint. We are 
deeply impressed by its great importance to the 
material interests of our Country and especially 
to the Pacific Coast, and we have publicly invited 
a free expression of opinion on the part of all 
concerned. Our conclusion, reached after much 
thought and mature consideration, is that the pro¬ 
jected Liter-Oceanic Canal via Nicaragua , as sur¬ 
veyed by the United States Naval Expedition of 
1873 should receive our decided preference, for the 
reasons stated herewith: 



6 


COMMITTEE REPORT. 


A. The Nicaragua Inter-Oceanic Canal can 
be constructed at a cost which can be safely esti¬ 
mated as less than one-half that of the Low-Tide 
Level Canal via Panama, and is commercially prac¬ 
ticable and available. 

B. Its location is greatly preferable on ac¬ 
count of its adaptability to the use of vessels un¬ 
der canvass, (or using canvass as an auxiliary,) 
while it can be made equally practicable for the 
use of steamships of the largest tonnage. 

C. It passes through a Country rich in re¬ 
sources, with two magnificent Lakes rendering 
the work accessible to a large territory, the 
commerce of which will greatly assist in pay¬ 
ing the cost of maintaining the Canal after this 
region shall have received the development which 
must ensue from its construction. 

D. The most competent Engineers in our 
country assert, and the careful surveys ordered by 
our Government prove, that the projected Nicara¬ 
gua Inter-oceanic Canal offers no engineering 
problems which are not comparatively easy of 
solution at an expense within the limits by us 
assigned, and, as it can be demonstrated that it 
will be a paying investment, capitalists will not 
hesitate to furnish funds for its construction. 


COMMITTEE REPORT. 


7 


For more detailed information as to the 
points herein considered, we present the Mem¬ 
orandum appended hereto, to which we crave ref¬ 
erence. 


Wm. Lawrence Merry, Chairman. 
C. J. Dempster, Sect’y. 

Levi Strauss, 

W. W. Dodge, 

Louis Sachs. 


MEMORANDUM. 


EXHIBIT A. 

Cost of Construction. We have paid particu¬ 
lar attention to this vital question. We find the 
Nicaragua Survey by Commander Lull, U. S. 
Navy worthy of implicit confidence. Every foot 
of ground has been carefully and laboriously sur¬ 
veyed with instruments of precision, and a detail- 
. ed estimate made of the cost of each division, the 
whole amounting to $52,577,718, to which, adding 
25 per cent for contingencies we have $65,722,147. 
Desiring to make a conservative estimate, and 
inclined to allow the widest limit for error, as well 
as for the increased dimension of locks hereafter 
to be specified, we admit a possible cost of $100,- 
000,000 or nearly double the original estimate. 

We do not intend to question the accuracy 
of our official surveys by adopting nearly double 
the net estimate as our view of the possible cost. 
On the contrary the surveys have evidently been 
carefully and conscientiously made; probably as 
much so as if made for a contract. In fact, we 
have it in evidence, that Chief Engineer Menocal, 
who made these estimates, has subsequently done 
subaqueous blasting in the San Juan Liver, at a 
cost of $2.50 per cubic yard for which he had al- 



COST OF CONSTRUCTION. 


9 


lowed $5.00 per cubic yard in the Government 
Beport. But w^e are estimating on a Commercial 
basis , and, having in view the increased size of 
locks recommended, and the apparently inevitable 
financial result, in respect to the cost of all works 
of this character heretofore completed, we must 
conclude from a cautious mercantile standpoint, 
that one hundred millions is not too high an esti¬ 
mate of possible cost. It is also proper to state 
that the same remarks as to cost apply with 
greater force to the Panama Low Tide Level Canal. 

The estimate for the Panama Low Tide Level 
Canal has been publicly announced at 843,000,000 
francs (approximately $169,000,000,) this includ¬ 
ing a contingency estimate of a little less than ten 
per cent. European and American engineers of the 
highest standing acknowledge that the peculiar 
features inevitable in excavation below the sea 
level prevent any accurate calculation of the out¬ 
lay which may prove necessary. Considering the 
Engineering problems so difficult of solution on the 
Panama Low Tide Level Canal, notably the diver¬ 
sion of the Chaorres where the Canal crosses it 68 

o 

feet below its present bed , and the construction of an 
artificial Lake to hold its immense flood waters, 
and admitting the same limit of error as in 
the Nicaragua Survey, we have a total cost 
so enormous that it cannot be considered commer¬ 
cially practicable. Indeed we confidently assert 
that an estimate of $300,000,000 which is as low 


10 


COST OF CONSTRUCTION. 


as a conservative judgment will accept, cannot be 
considered commercially practicable. 

Excessive as this estimate of possible cost 
may appear to the advocates of the Panama Canal 
it will be noted that the ratio of increase is less 
than ice have applied to the Nicaragua Survey , 
which has to deal with problems less difficult of 
solution. Considering that the estimate of cost 
fixed by the Technical Commission at Panama 
does not include interest during the period of con¬ 
struction, payment to the Panama Pailroad, or 
to Lieut. Wyse for the Concession, we must re¬ 
gard the ten per cent allowed for contingencies 
as totally inadequate. It appears to us that the 
contingency estimate for building the Panama 
Canal below the sea level should be greater than 
in estimating for the Nicaragua Canal above the 
sea level, whereas it is estimated at fifteen per 
cent less. The cost of these works being esssen- 
tially a technical question we approach the sub¬ 
ject with much deference, and only because we 
are obliged to do so in order to settle the Com¬ 
mercial practicability which must be controlled 
thereby. We also note that Works of this charac¬ 
ter have seldom been constructed within estimates, 
contingencies included, while the cost has frequent¬ 
ly been doubled. The Suez Canal estimated at 
forty million dollars cost ninety-one and a half mil¬ 
lions. We also refer to the Croton Water Works 
as another instance of the inaccuracy of original 


DRAINAGE. 


11 


estimates on projects of this character. For the 
demonstration of this question in detail we beg 
reference to Exhibit D. 

In this connection we may be allowed to 
quote the remarks of Commander Lull, U. S. 
Navy in his report of the U. S. Survey of the 
Panama Canal, 1875, page 24. They appear to 
us important and will be specially approved of by 
many old Californians who “know how floods be¬ 
have ” in the rainy season. 

“One of the most vitally important questions 
to be considered in discussing the subject of the 
construction of a canal across the American Isth¬ 
mus is that of drainage ; and, singularly enough, 
among European writers on the subject, scarcely 
any attention has been given to it. Taking the 
Suez Canal as a standard for comparison, they 
almost without exception cling to the idea of a 
canal without locks; in other words, a cut below 
the level of the sea. Such a channel would be 
burdened, not only with the discharge of the 
springs developed in the cut, and whose number 
and force in a land so saturated with moisture 
would be beyond comparison with those of any 
hitherto-constructed work, but must also become 
the ultimate drain of the surface of a very consid- 
able portion of adjacent territory. It would, 
during the rainy season, if not indeed at all times, 
be a wild torrent, unfit for the passage of ships, 
and must speedily become filled with bars and 


12 


ADVANTAGES OF LOCATION. 


other obstructions from the detritus furnished by 
its own current.” 


EXHIBIT B. 

Location. The location of this great work is 
a factor of vital importance. The Nicaragua 
Canal would be entitled to the preference of 
Americans because it would save about eight hun¬ 
dred miles on both oceans between our Northwest 
Coast and our Eastern Seaboard and Europe. But 
we are considering a Canal for the service of all 
the Maritime World, and, discarding our own 
preferences as Americans, we still recognize the 
Nicaragua Canal as the most advantageously situat¬ 
ed for the World’s Commerce. In the use of 
wind, Nature has given us a motive power too 
cheap and too efficient to be discarded. Even in 
screw steamships of latest construction this fact is 
recognized; all using it as a valuable auxiliary 
motive power, and even as aiding in the develop¬ 
ment of steam power by furnishing efficient 
draught for furnaces. For hundreds of miles 
oceanward from Panama almost unremitting 
calms prevail. Maury has written that were an 
earthquake to sever the continent at the Panama 
Isthmus, sailing ships would prefer going around 
the “Cape of Storms” to essaying a passage 
through the Gulf of Panama. It is a notable fact 
that notwithstanding the development of steam 


ADVANTAGES OF LOCATION. 


13 


power which has increased its economy fully one- 
third, sailing ships have increased in still greater 
ratio. To them the Panama Canal would be 
practically useless, and no project unadapted to 
their use can be entertained by the Commercial 
World, which requires a Canal as much for the 
ships already constructed as for those of the 
future. 

The Nicaragua Canal offers no such disad¬ 
vantage. With its Pacific terminus almost out 
of the region of tropical calms, it is accessible 
to sailing ships with comparatively limited delay, 
and would be extensively used by them. Iron 
sailing ships in passing through it would be cleans¬ 
ed by the action of fresh water, thereby increasing 
their subsequent speed, and steamships would leave 
it with boilers filled with fresh water without cost 
or detention. 


EXHIBIT C. 

Local Resources. The importance of this branch 
of the subject cannot be over estimated. The Pana¬ 
ma Isthmus can have comparatively no resources. 
Even the material for construction is mostly lacking. 
Nicaragua is a country of great resources, and con¬ 
tains within its borders all the material for canal 
construction except iron, for which, however, no 
search has been made. Should our country and 
Nicaragua see fit to make a Treaty of Reciprocity 


14 


LOCAL RESOURCES 


simultaneous with the commencement of the Canal, 
by the time it is completed, Nicaragua would her¬ 
self pay a large portion of the cost of mainten¬ 
ance, and, in any event, when this magnificent 
country, becomes connected,by means of this work, 
with the Commercial World, a constantly increasing 
local commerce, would aid in making the project 
a profitable one. Valuable woods, the finest cacao 
in the world, coffee, cotton, cochineal, indigo, 
sugar and India rubber are among its native pro¬ 
ducts—all articles that ourselves and all Europe 
need, and will gladly pay for, offering us in return 
a large field for the manufactured products y>f 
our country. Certainly this is an argument of 
the most forcible nature in the consideration of 
this question. If the Inter-oceanic Canal would 
be an advantage to Nicaragua, Nicaragua would 
even be more of an advantage to the capitalists 
investing in this great highway of Nations. 

EXHIBIT D. 

Facility of Construction. We enter upon this 
branch of the subject with some diffidence, be¬ 
cause we are not engineers, but as the Projector 
of the Panama Low Tide Level Canal publicly 
admitted at the Paris Canal Convention of 1879, 
that he is not himself an engineer, we approach 
the discussion, feeling that, after using our best 
judgement, we can rely on eminent English and 


FACILITY OF CONSTRUCTION. 


15 


American Engineers who have publicly and official¬ 
ly endorsed the Nicaragua Canal. We see no valid 
objection to the use of locks, since they are already 
in use in this country of a capacity large enough for 
largest class ships. We have, however to insist, as a 
necessity of the case that the locks of the Nicaragua 
Canal shall be lengthened to the dimensions of that 
recently built by Gen. Weitzel, of the U. S. Engin¬ 
eer Corps, at the St. Mary’s Canal; 515 feet long, 
or even 550 feet long, with proportionate width. 
Locks of the length required by our Recommenda¬ 
tion would pass a large portion of the vessels using 
the Canal, two at a time , thereby economizing 
labor and increasing its capacity. While it is 
is true that the locks of 400 feet length estimated 
for,will accommodate most ships now in use,we give 
due weight to the fact that the largest ships 
are the cheapest freight carriers, and we would 
have canal locks large enough for all that are 
likely to be built hereafter. The increased cost 
will not be material, and the advantage will be 
great. The liability to earthquakes as an ob¬ 
jection to the use of locks we do not consider im¬ 
portant, although it is a danger both at Panama 
and Nicaragua; so remote that it need not be 
considered in either place. 

It is proposed to construct the Locks of the 
Nicaragua Canal with concrete, which affords great 
facility for repairs and for which the best materials 
abound in that country. Numerous works in 


16 


FINANCIAL RESULTS. 


Central America built of this material a century 
or more ago attest its durability. The Panama 
Canal with its enormous dam to control the floods 
of the Chagres, and its tidal lock at the Pacific 
terminus offers objections as regards earthquakes, 
equally or more serious than the locks of the Nica¬ 
ragua Canal. We see no reason why the philoso¬ 
phy that Nature teaches, should not be made use 
of to conquer the obstacles that Nature places be¬ 
fore us, and we claim that it is better and more 
reasonable, to carry a ship over a summit by means 
of lift locks, than to build a sea level cut at 
an incalculably increased cost, which must necessa¬ 
rily receive the drainage of a country with an 
average precipitation of 124 inches annually. 

At Aspinwall the rain fall in 1872 was 170i O 8 o 
inches. 

At Suez the annual average is less than 2 
inches. 

Dismissing this branch of the Exhibit we 
come to the final test of all Commercial Problems. 
Will it pay 7 ? We can conscientiously answer with 
the lights before us. By Nicaragua it will pay — 
by Panama it will not pay. 

Ten years since the estimated tonnage that would 
use the American Inter-oceanic Canal was placed 
by the best official authority in the country at 4,100 
000 tons per annum. Careful estimates made by 
your Committee place it at 5,250,000 tons at this 
time. We are informed by Count De Lesseps 
that he calculates upon 6,000,000 tons, the 


FINANCIAL RESULTS. 


17 


difference being perhaps caused by assigning the 
use of the Canal to ships that we place as likely 
to continue on previous routes. Thus, the English 
direct commerce with Australia would, in our 
opinion, only use the Canal on their homeward 
voyage , and would continue to go from England to 
Australia via the Cape of Good Hope or via Suez. 
The De Lesseps estimate of 6,000,000 tons appears 
the more excessive when it is considered that he 
claims steam as the exclusive motive power by 
sea hereafter, discards sailing tonnage , and then 
includes this sailing tonnage in his estimate. 

Desiring, as we have done in all our conclu¬ 
sions, to estimate conservatively, we allow for a 
tonnage of 5,000,000 tons per annum. Five 
million tons annually represents about 2,780 
vessels which would make 8 vessels daily, pass¬ 
ing through the Canal—four each way. It will 
be readily seen that the capacity of the Nica¬ 
ragua Canal would be fully four times the esti¬ 
mated tonnage, notwithstanding the use of locks. 
Admitting the cost at the extreme figure of $100,- 
000,000, and with a toll of $2.00 per ton we have 
a yearly income equal to 10 per cent, on the cost. 
Allowing the very liberal estimate of $2,000,000 
per annum for maintenance, we have a net income 
equal to 8 per cent, on the investment, indepen¬ 
dent of the increasing local revenue , as the interior 
of Nicaragua is developed; an important factor in 
our favor, to aid which we would include in the 


18 


RECOMMENDATIONS. 


general plan, the connecting of Lake Managua 
with Lake Nicaragua by a canal of 10 feet draught, 
which could be built at a very moderate cost, 
Nature having already done a considerable part of 
the work. 

We would also recommend the construc¬ 
tion of a Dry Dock in Lake Nicaragua , con¬ 
tiguous to the Canal, capable of admitting the 
largest ships that can pass through it, and with 
Dockage rates publicly fixed at as low figures as 
possible. This would encourage ships navigating 
toward the Canal and meeting with any mishap, 
to continue on their voyage, and thereby save the 
great expense frequently incurred by deviation. 
It would also aftord facility for repairs of the local 
tonnage which would soon navigate Lakes Mana¬ 
gua and Nicaragua. 

Commerce should not be charged over $2.00 
per ton for the use of the canal, if our Coast 
is to reap the benefit it is entitled to expect 
from such a work, and this is the maximum 
tonnage charge considered advisable by experts 
who have been examined by your Committee. 
After all, the insuperable objection to the Panama 
Low Tide Level Canal is the toll necessary to pay 
for its construction wdiich has been announced 
at $3.00 per ton, while De Lesseps publicly 
stated at the Paris Convention of 1879 that 
he could, if necessary, make ships pay 20 francs 
per ton, which, allowing even a moderate contin- 


RECAPITULATION. 


19 


gency in his estimates, he would have to charge, 
to declare any dividends. 

We beg to call your attention to the fol¬ 
lowing points in our statement. First , we ad¬ 
mit a cost nearly double the net estimate made by 
our Government Engineers for the Nicaragua 
Canal. Second , we reduce the probable tonnage 
that would use it 250,000 tons below our own 
close estimate, and 1,000,000 tons below the esti¬ 
mate lately made public for the Panama scheme. 
Third , we ignore the income from the local com¬ 
merce which would be rapidly developed. Fourth , 
on this basis we show 8 per cent, profit with a toll 
of $2.00 per ton, allowing $2,000,000 per annum 
for maintenance. We respectfully submit that 
we can present this financ ial problem to the world 
with prospects of success, and that the Nicaragua 
Inter-oceanic Canal will pay. 


GENERAL REMARKS. 

We would urge the absolute necessity of 
regulating the tonnage tax for the use of this 
Commercial Highway by means of an Inter-Na¬ 
tional Convention in which all the maritime nations 
of Europe and America shall be represented; the 
tonnage tax thus levied being unchangeable 
except by a majority of all the Signatory Powers, 
and intended to pay a liberal percentage on the 
absolute cost of construction only. 




20 


TONNAGE TAX. 


Inasmuch as Nicaragua will receive substan¬ 
tial and increasing benefit from the day this great 
enterprise is inaugurated, it being in effect, an ex¬ 
tensive system of internal improvements without 
expense to its citizens, we do not consider that the 
Government of that Republic should claim any 
special privileges which would seriously decrease 
the revenues of the Company constructing it, but 
should restrict their requirements in this particu¬ 
lar to the free use of the Canal for their Naval 
vessels, a reduction of 25 per cent on tolls payable 
by the Internal Commerce of the Republic, and 
the use of the Panaloya Canal, connecting Lake 
Nicaragua with Lake Managua, at a toll which 
will only pay the cost of maintenance. 

We cannot too strongly commend to the at¬ 
tention of this Board the importance of the fore¬ 
going suggestions. 

Ten different routes have been examined by 
able, disinterested and skillful officers in the ser¬ 
vice of our Government, and where they have 
been found practicable, close instrumental surveys 
have followed: the last of these being the Lull 
Survey for the Panama Canal in 1875. The re¬ 
sult of all these laborious examinations, is the 
officially expressed preference given by the best 
engineering talent in the United States to the 
Nicaragua Route. The Commercial World is 
ripe for the execution of this great and beneficent 
work, and having every indication of pecuniary 
success, abundant capital, under proper guarantees, 


PROMPT ACTION NECESSARY. 


21 


will be forthcoming. Your Committee do not 
sympathise with those who would place impedi¬ 
ments in the path of the illustrious Projector of 
the Panama Canal. Although, as far as they are 
able to judge, a work of stupendous magnitude, 
if the capitalists of Europe choose to place their 
means at his disposition for this purpose, we should 
wish him success, and we cannot but honor his 
energy and his confidence. If the spirit of 
American enterprise no longer finds exponents in 
the construction of what we conscientiously re¬ 
commend as being, in our judgement, a better 
route , we have no moral right to prevent others, 
with more energy, from undertaking so beneficent 
an enterprise, and, if the Panama Canal costs, as 
wo think it will, far more than at present estimat¬ 
ed, once it is constructed, it cannot lay idle , and 
a tonnage charge mustbe made which ships canpay , 
even if it prove unremunerative to the investors. 
The same energy which Count De Lesseps dis¬ 
plays, would probably, if applied to the Nicara¬ 
gua Canal, result in its completion within five 
years, and, we axe confident, at about one third the 
cost. It would be a source of lasting regret how¬ 
ever, if the commencement of the Panama Canal 
should prevent the constructsm of that in Nicara¬ 
gua, and, in the event of the abandonment of the 
former, indefinitely deprive the Commercial World 
of any Canal whatever. Both routes have now 
been surveyed with instruments of precision. 


22 


RESULTS. 


The time for action has arrived. 

Our Commonwealth, our Pacific Coast, de¬ 
mand cheap transportation; both languish on their 
onward march for the want of it. During the year 
which sees our first grain laden ship leave our 
wharves for Europe via the Nicaragua Canal, the 
Farmer will find every acre that he tills largely 
enhanced in value; the Merchant will find himself 
two months nearer the great marts of Europe. 
European immigrants can reach us in less than 30 
days time at a cost of about $35 and our material 
prosperity will receive such an impetus as we little 
dream of. 

Let us not then dismiss this subject as an 
Utopian dream. Had the Gentlemen present 
examined it as have your Committee, you would 
no longer ask cui-hono f To the end that the labors 
of your Committee shall bear the fruit they should 
do, we have prepared a Memorial to Congress, now 
in session, urging them to place our State on record 
as crying aloud for this great work. Gentlemen, 
there is honor to this Board of Trade in the per¬ 
sistent urging of the construction of the Nicaragua 
Inter-oceanic Canal—there is prosperity in it for 
our Producers; there is profit in it for our Mer¬ 
chants! God speed the day when the Pacific shall 
be wedded to the Atlantic ! It will be a happy day 
for us, for our children, for our Country, and for 
the World ! 

In conclusion your Committee have to thank 


CONCLUSION. 


23 


Senator Booth for valuable documents. Also to 
Count De Lesseps and Lieutenant Leutze, U. S. 
Navy for giving us their time and experience in 
the surveys under discussion, and the many gentle¬ 
men experts whom we have called upon for evi¬ 
dence in Committee. The subject has occupied 
much of our time and thoughts and its interest 
has so grown upon us that we could wish every 
merchant in this Board would inform himself fully 
on a matter of such vital interest to our country 
and the commercial world. 

The documents appertaining thereto are now in 
the Library of the Board, and to them we invite 
the attention of all our Members. 



DESCRIPTION OF ROUTE. 


Capt. Merry, Chairman of the Committee, 
made the following remarks on a motion to adopt 
the foregoing report: 

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Board of 
Trade: 

The importance of the Inter-oceanic Canal as a factor 
in the prosperity of this Commonwealth demands at our 
hands a rigid and impartial investigation of the merits of the 
route we have decided as alone commercially practicable. 
Certainly a canal without locks and on sea level is a great 
desideratum, but when we cannot attain this end in a com¬ 
mercially practicable manner, it appears proper to avail our¬ 
selves of the resources of Philosophy and Science to over¬ 
come the obstacles that Nature has placed in our path. 

What portion of this great work Nature has already ac¬ 
complished in Nicaragua is illustrated by the fact that, 
during the rainy season a steamer of 400 tons can enter the 
San Juan river at its Colorado branch and approach within 
12£ miles of the Pacific. While standing on the upper 
deck of a steamer on Lake Nicaragua I have seen the set¬ 
ting sun almost until it dipped into Pacific waters. 

The restoration of the Harbor of Grey town is probably 
the most difficult task in the construction of the Nicaragua 
Canal, but with the amount appropriated therefor and the 
contingency estimate added thereto, it can doubtless be ac¬ 
complished. 


DESCRIPTION OF ROUTE. 25 


The construction of the canal through the alluvial delta 
of the San Juan River offers no Engineering difficulties of 
note. After passing this delta, in following the river valley 
to. the junction of the San Carlos River some heavier cut¬ 
ting must be done, but no engineering, obstacles of import¬ 
ance present themselves. From the junction of the San 
Carlos the river is itself converted into a slack water navi¬ 
gation by the construction of four dams, after the river 
bottom has been improved and deepened where necessary 
These dams are passed by three short canals fitted with a 
lift lock in each. The upper portion of the San Juan River 
has only 8 inches fall to. the mile, and is essentially a natural 
canal above Castillo Rapids, to the Lake. 

The navigation of the Lake offers no special peculiari¬ 
ties, but is free from hidden dangers, and deeper than is 
necessary except near the mouth of the river, where it has 
been shoaled by silt for about seven miles, an average of 
8 feet, which can easily bt removed by dredging. The 
general depth of the Lake is 5 to 16 fathoms, averaging 
about 9 fathoms on the line of the Canal Lake Navigation. 

We have now arrived at the cut from the mouth of the 
little Rio del Medio, on the lake, to Brito on the Pacific, a 
’distance of 16^- miles, with the maximum elevation of 134 
feet above the Lake (a sharp peak) and an average cut of 
.about 40 feet through a fixed soil and occasional rock, but all 
covered with vegetation. The Lake being 107f feet above 
the Pacific, 10 lift locks of lOf feet each are constructed, by 
which means the ship reaches, the harbor of Brito on the 
Pacific. Here we have to increase the limited area of the 
harbor and fully protect it by a breakwater which will 
afford access to the Canal in smooth water. The appropria¬ 
tion for this purpose appears reasonable, but may need all 
the margin allowed to complete the work. These are the 
main features of the Nicaragua Canal and they offer no ob¬ 
stacles that cannot be overcome with comparative ease in, 
fact, as Lieut. Leutze has j ustly observed, “nothing is called 
for here that has not been done before.” 


26 


OUR SPECIAL DUTY. 


Even the Nicaragua Ship Canal is doubtless a work of 
great magnitude, but it should be measured by the results 
it will produce. Dynamite and Dredging Machinery are 
also powerful agents, and American genius will furnish 
means to greatly reduce the manual labor otherwise neces¬ 
sary in such a work. 

Let us now inquire why we should agitate this subject 
at all. This is a young Mercantile Community, and many 
here present will live to see the completion of this great 
work ! The day when we can reach European Ports in 25 
days and our Eastern Seaboard in 15 days, without break¬ 
ing bulk, and at rates of freight as low as they now average 
to Hong Kong will witness an enormous impetus to our pros¬ 
perity. It is plainly our duty as a Mercantile Association, 
representing the business interests of this Coast to do what 
lays in our power to encourage the prosecution of this great 
work I We shall do ourselves honor and our State ser¬ 
vice if we awake to the great advantages which are being 
placed within our grasp. Few such opportunities occur in 
the Mercantile experience of a life time. California beyond 
any state in the Union, and San Francisco beyond any city 
in the world should urge the commencement of this benefi¬ 
cent enterprise, and, as a representative mercantile body 
we should not wait until other kindred associations declare 
themselves. We are the most interested , why should we 
not be the most active in urging the attention of our Govern¬ 
ment and the Commercial World to this project, so rich in 
results to our Commonwealth, the Pacific Coast and our 
Country ? 



TO THE 


CALIFORNIA DELEGATION 

IN THE 

it. jlruatc and §io«$c of llcpmcntativcs. 


The Board of Trade of San Francisco beg re¬ 
spectfully to call your attention to the Memorial 
which we have prepared for presentation to the 
Honorable Senate and House of Representatives 
on the subject of the Nicaragua Inter-oceanic 
Canal bespeaking therefor your cordial sympa¬ 
thy and, active support. The Board feel assured 
of your interest in attaining a result so beneficent 
to all your constituents, and that, when the proper 
time arrives, your great influence will be found 
urging a work so essential to the prosperity of 
the producers as well as the merchants of our 
Commonwealth and the entire Pacific Coast. 

With the assurance of our high esteem, we sub¬ 
scribe ourselves, 

Your Fellow Citizens 
The Board of Trade of San Francisco. 
by J. S. Taber, President. 

James Huffy, 1st Vice-President. 


C 


F. Wyman, Secretary. 


Committee, 

on 

Inter-oceanic 

Canal. 


Wm. Lawrence Merry, Chairman 
C. J. Dempster, Secretary. 

W. W. Dodge, 

Levi Strauss, 

Louis Sachs 



MEMORIAL. 


TO THE HONORABLE 

fthc Ornate ami blouse of llcpfr^ntativco 

IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED: 

The Board of Trade of San Francisco represent¬ 
ing over fifty millions of active capital controlled 
by two hundred and twenty-four business firms, 
respectfully call your attention to the great and 
urgent necessity existing for the construction of a 
Ship Canal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific 
oceans. Your Memorialists have attentively con¬ 
sidered this great question in the interests of our 
Commonwealth, our Pacific Coast and the whole 
Commercial World. They have availed themselves 
of all the official information obtainable on the sub¬ 
ject; they have examined professional experts oil 
the surveys already made, as well as competent 
navigators respecting the practical benefits attaina¬ 
ble thereby. After impartial and careful considera- 


MEMORIAL. 


29 


tion of the subject, and without any interests except 
as above stated, your Memorialists desire as a com¬ 
mercial body, deeply interested in the practical so¬ 
lution of this great enterprise, to place on record 
their firm conviction that, in point of Economy of 
Construction , availability for Commercial purposes 
■and certainty of returns for the capital invested, the 
Nicaragua Route for an Inter-oceanic Canal as 
surveyed by Commander Lull, U. S. Navy, in 
1873 offers the greatest advantages, and should 
therefore receive the unqualified endorsement of 
our Government and the Capitalists of the world. 

Our Pacific Coast suffers, and is retarded in 
its onward march of Industrial and Commercial 
development, for the want of cheap transportation, 
and your Memorialists look upon the Nicaragua 
Inter-oceanic Canal as the only available project 
which holds out to our producers and our merchants 
the prospect of permanent relief—in the desid¬ 
eratum of cheap freights to the Great Nations 
inhabiting the shores of the Atlantic. The mil¬ 
lions of Europe and our own Countrymen on our 
Eastern seaboard want the varied products of our 
soil, but we are debarred from the benefit which 
should thereby accrue to our Pacific Coast by the 
expanse of a continent and by the “ Cape of 
Storms.” 

. Your Memorialists therefore pray that, when 
an organization with proper guarantees, applies to 
you for recognition and official encouragement, the 


30 


MEMORIAL. 


Government of our country will assume the pro¬ 
tection, and support with its moral influence, the 
execution of this great work, upon which so much 
depends. Your sanction and your encouragement 
will make this essentially an American enterprise , 
and afford such a guarantee of success as will at¬ 
tract the capital of Europe to complement our 
own. Our Coast, our Country and the World are 
ready for this great and beneficent enterprise. 
On the shores of the Pacific the sentiment of 
American Nationality and Patriotism appeals to 
you with the assurance of your cordial sympathy 
and support. 

The Board of Trade of San Francisco. 
by J. S. Taber, President. 

James Duffy, 1st Vice-President 

C. F. Wyman, Secretary. 


Committee. 

on 

Inter-oceanic 

Canal. 


Wm. Lawrence Merry, Chairman 
C. J. Dempster, Secretary 
W. W. Dodge, 

Leyi Strauss, 

Louis Sachs. 




DISTANCES. 


31 


NICARAGUA INTER-OCEANIC CANAL. 

DISTANCES ON THE LINE. 


Miles. 

Canal between Lake Nicaragua and Brito, 


on Pacific Ocean, 16 ? 

Canal between Lake Nicaragua and Grey- 

town on Atlantic Ocean, 45? 

Slack water Navigation River San Juan, 63? 

Lake Nicaragua Navigation, 56? 


Total Length, 180.76 


DISTANCES SAVED IN NAVIGATION 

BY 

NICARAGUA INTER-OCEANIC CANAL. 


Miles. 

New York to San Francisco, 9800 

England (Lizard) to San Francisco, 6953 

New York to Callao, Peru, 6220 

“ “ “ Valparaiso, Chile, 3720 

“ “ “ Hong Kong, China, • 8245 

“ “ “ Yokohama, Japan, 7905 

“ “ “ Melbourne, Australia, 3120 

Liverpool to Gulf of Fonseca, C. A. 6500 

“ “ Callao, Peru, 3200 

i “ “ Valparaiso, Chile, . 1500 





32 


COMPARISON OF ROUTES. 


NICARAGUA. 



1. Longer Canal and lift locks to attain lake 
level of 107f feet. 

2. About half cost of Panama. 

3. Passes through a country of great but 
only slightly developed resources. 

4. Fresh water and splendid inland harbor. 

5. Materials for construction and maintenance 
mostly in the country. 

6. Accessible to sailing ships with slight 
delay. 

7. Free from financial claims against the 
parties, constructing it. 

8. Route through a country with 58 inches 
average annual rainfall and, by reason of the lake 
receiving the drainage, not liable to floods. 

9. Lift locks remotely liable to damage by 
earthquakes. 

10. Two days to pass through. 

11. Saving about 800 miles between East and 
West Coast United States Ports, and losing about 
180 miles to knd from South American West 
Coast Ports, for steamers. Loss to sailing ships 
in latter case, Tittle or none. 



COMPARISON OF ROUTES. 


33 


PANAMA. 


1. Short Low Tide Level cut, with tidal lock 
at Pacific terminus. 

2. About double cost of Nicaragua compara¬ 
tively. 

3. Passes through a country of comparative¬ 
ly no resources. 

4. Salt water and no harbors except at the 
termini. 

5. Materials for construction and maintenance 
mostly to be imported. 

6. Inaccessible to sailing ships without great 
delay by reason of calms. 

7. Required to pay Lieut. Wyse 10,000,000 
francs for concession and Panama R. R. Co., 100,- 
000,000 francs for value of railroad. 

8. Route through a country with 124 inches 
average annual rainfall, and liable to very high 
floods, endangering the Canal works thereby. 

9. Chagres dam remotely liable to damage by 
earthquakes, and to destruction by floods in rainy 
season. 

10. One day to pass through. 

11. Losing about 800 miles between East and 
West Coast United States Ports, and saving 
about 180 miles to steamers to and from South 
American West Coast Ports. Gain to sailing 
ships in latter case little or none. 





•i.' 
































































































































































» 








































































































































































































































































I 

























































































































































































































— 


/ 










... 



















































































































































